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Debate Surrounding The Development Of Gender Roles

860 Words4 Pages

The debates concerning the notions of “sex” and “gender” have been going on over the years. The recent point of view is that gender roles are not universal for everyone, whereas some individuals regard them as fundamental and build their lives according to the rules and standards prescribed by the society. The historical background of gender development theories shows that major theories discussed gender roles from social, cultural, biological, anthropological and psychological points of view. The biological theory was a leading one and it influenced many researches who discussed the development of gender roles. However, the findings of the previous studies have revealed that gender roles are the results of social and cultural influences, rather than being a …show more content…

According to Kohlberg's theory (1966), the formation of gender identity starts in early childhood. Thus, children “develop the stereotypic conceptions of gender from what they see and hear around them” (Bussey &
Bandura 1999, p. 4) and they adapt their habits and behavioral patterns to these stereotypes. Thus, their understanding of gender is based on biological differences between men and women and defined their behaviors and habits. In addition, gender
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GENDER AND SOCIETY identity was considered to be stable and unchangeable for the whole period of life.
However, the findings did not support this theory.
There was no convincing evidence that men and women are biologically different, but there have always been cultural and social factors that shaped the gender roles that men and women had to follow and perform in the society. The study by Gilligan reports that “anthropological research published in that decade uncovered a set of oppositions between maleness and femaleness primarily derived from studies of non-class-based societies” (Stack 1986, p. 321). Over decades, women tended to be more involved with private concerns and relationships and

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